Obscured by Clouds. The rough and ready blog of a cloud benighted biologist and amateur astronomer. Astroblog will cover my interests in astronomy, biology and Life, the Universe and Everything.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Sky This Week - Thursday July 18 to Thursday July 25

The Full Moon is Tuesday July 23. Mars and Jupiter meet in the morning twilight. Mercury climbs higher in the morning sky.
Venus is readily visible in the evening twilight and is close to the bright star Regulus on the 22nd. Saturn is high in the western evening sky. Wave at Saturn on the morning of the 20th.

The Full Moon is Tuesday July 23. On the 22nd the Moon is at perigee, when it is closest to the Earth.

Evening sky looking west as seen from Adelaide at 18:00 pm local time on Monday July 22. Venus is close to the bright star Regulus. Similar
views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local times. Click to
embiggen.

Venus
climbs
higher in the evening twilight. It can easily be seen 20 minutes after sunset and
is now brilliantly visible up to an hour and a half after
sunset.

Venus starts the week below the bright star Regulus. As the week goes on, Venus comes closer and the pair are at their closest, one degree apart, on the evening of the 22nd.

Saturn is
easily visible above the northern-western horizon in the early evening in the
constellation of Virgo. By 10 pm local time it is reasonably high above the western horizon and very easy to see. This is still an excellent time
to view
this planet in a small telescope, as there will be the little
interference from horizon murk and air turbulence (and you can show the
kids before they go to bed).

Saturn, Arcturus and Spica form a long triangle above the western horizon.

On the morning of Saturday July 20, at 7:27 am AEST, 6:57 am ACST and 5:27 an AWST, the space probe Cassini will look back to Earth and take a picture of our planet. Go out, look down and wave at Saturn (details here).

Opposition (when Saturn is biggest and brightest as seen from
Earth) was on April 28. However, Saturn will be a worthwhile evening target for telescopes
of any size for a while. The sight of this ringed world is always amazing.

Morning sky on Monday July 22 looking north-east as seen from Adelaide
at 6:30 am local time in South Australia. Mars is near Jupiter, with Mercury nearby. Similar views will
be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Mars rises higher in the morning twilight. It forms a broad triangle with two red giant stars, Aldebaran and Betelgeuse, and almost forms a line with Betelgeuse and Rigel.

Mars and Jupiter start the week not far from each other
and come closer during the week, being closest on the morning of Monday 22nd.

Jupiter is
now well above the north-eastern horizon, just below Mars. It's still best to have a flat,
unobstructed eastern horizon but seeing Jupiter gets easier by the day. During the week
Jupiter rises higher and comes closer to Mars. The pair are closest on the morning of Monday 22nd.

Mercury rises higher the morning twilight this week. It's best with a flat, unobstructed eastern horizon.

There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a
telescope. Especially with Saturn so prominent in the sky. If you don't
have a telescope, now is a good time to
visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums. Especially during the school holidays.